BREWER, Maine — Bright sunlight beat down on Levasseur Pond on Sunday, but Woody Higgins admitted that just days earlier, he’d been a bit concerned that conditions might be a bit too warm for the Penobscot County Conservation Association’s annual children’s ice fishing day.
“[Fellow PCCA member] Jim [Fahey] and I were out here, and there was slush everywhere,” Higgins said. “I told him, we’re going to have to cancel.”
Instead, the duo rode snowmobiles around in circles, packing down paths that Sunday’s anglers followed to keep them high and dry. Almost.
Yes, there was some splishing and splashing, especially as the day warmed and temperatures soared into the 50s. But attendees, some in shirtsleeves, seemed to appreciate the respite from a recent string of decidedly wintry weather.
At one hole in the ice, Benjamin Smith, 3, watched as his older brother, Jacob, hauled a small brook trout out of the water.
After Jacob, 8, looked at the fish his dad, Chris Smith, suggested he leave the trout on the line and put it back into the water so Benjamin could take a turn catching a fish.
That arrangement was OK with Benjamin, but it only kept his attention for a short time. A few moments after dangling the fish in the air, he was more interested in throwing large chunks of snow into the ice hole than fishing.
“I don’t think he’s got the jist of it in the hole,” Chris Smith said with a laugh. Then he offered up one of ice fishing’s basic rules to his young son. “You’ve got to put the hook back in the hole.”
Chris Smith said he had driven by the PCCA’s North Main Street facility dozens of times but never realized a pond sat just behind a stand of trees on the way toward the Penobscot River.
“This is a great little spot,” he said. “We just came over here for something to do, and we ended up catching something.”
Nearby, Wren D’Auria, 5, of Orrington played with a group of Girl Scouts and their sisters around another hole in the ice. She, too, decided that launching a few snowballs was a good way to kill time while the fishing action lagged. But instead of tossing those snowballs into the slushy water, she aimed at her dad, Lee Kantar.
Kantar proved nimble, however, and dodged most of the projectiles that headed his way.
Higgins and Fahey said the PCCA first held its ice fishing day five years ago, after the duo had attended a similar event at the Maine Youth Fish and Game Association at Pickerel Pond.
“I said, ‘Woody, we can do this at our pond if we can get the fish,’” Fahey recalled. “[Levasseur Pond] had always been stocked in the spring, but the fish don’t [survive the summer] that well because of the water temperature.”
Gregory Burr, a regional fisheries biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, arranged for an additional fall stocking in the pond. Since then the event has become popular.
A year ago, however, rainy weather forced cancellation, making Higgins and other PCCA members eager to successfully stage a children’s ice fishing event again.
They did, and by 9:30 a.m., 100 or more people had gathered on the grounds of the PCCA, taking turns fishing, playing and snacking on donated donuts. At lunchtime, hot dogs were to be served. Four University of Maine students volunteered to drill holes and set up traps for anglers, and all of the bait and tackle was donated for use Sunday.
“The outdoor community steps up pretty good when things like this happen,” Higgins said.
Fahey said the slushy conditions didn’t make it unsafe but could make it unpleasant for the unprepared.
“There’s probably 24 inches of ice here today,” he said, pointing out that it’s hard to have fun when your feet are wet.
Not far away, young Benjamin Smith shared his opinion on the topic.
“I’m really cold,” he said, crying. “I’ve got water in my boot.”
Chris Smith quickly scooped his son up out of the slush and started walking toward the parking lot. Their day of fishing was done.
“That’s the cue,” Chris Smith said.
